Block covering for steam-boilers



(No Model.)

G. DI OKSON. BLOCK COVERING FOR STEAM BOILERS, PIPES, Gas. No. 551,369.

Patented Dec. 17,1895.

INVENTOR A Woe/vex AN DREW IGRMMN. NIG'AQUTNQWASNINGTON. DC.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE DICKSON, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

BLOCK COVERING FORSTEAM-BOILERS, PIPES, 84.0.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 551,369, dated December17, 1895.

Application filed June 15, 1895. Serial No. 552,882. (life model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, GEORGE DICKSON, a subject of the Queen of England,and a resident of Philadelphia, in the county of Philadelphia and Stateof Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inBlock Coverings for Steam-Boilers, Pipes, and the Like, of which thefollowing is a specification.

The principal object of my present invention is inexpensively, durablyand efficiently to fit non-conducting covering blocks or sectionstogether at their meeting edges in such manner that they are in effecthinged thereat and therefore may be readily and conveniently applied toand detached from boilers, pipes and other cylindrical surfaces ofdifferent diameters, and in such manner that tight, attractive, durableand efficient joints are insured in all practical positions of andbetween the blocks or sections.

My invention consists in the improvements hereinafter described andclaimed.

The nature, characteristic features, and scope of my invention will bemore fully understood from the following description, taken inconnection with the accompanying drawings, forming part 11 erect, and inwhich Figure 1 is an isoperimetrical view illustrating a wide and narrowfaced block or sec tion of covering provided with asymmetrically-concave edge and with a beveled con vex edge embodyingfeatures of my invention. 'Fig. 2 is a sectional view illustrating thesymmetrical concave and beveled convex edges of a series of the blocksshown in Fig. 1, fitted together to form tight hinge or cupand-balhlihejoints which permit of the application of the blocks to cylindricalboilers, pipes and the like of different diameters; and Fig. 3 is asectional view illustrating my improved blocks in application to a pipe,boiler or the like of comparatively small diameter and showing in dottedlines the portions of the beveled edges that are usually removed.

In the drawings, 1 is a block of non-conducting material that may bemade as long as the boiler or pipe to which it is applied and of anyconvenient width. The faces 2 and3 of this block are flat and one face'2thereof is comparatively wide and the other face 3 thereof iscomparatively narrow, so that the blocks may be arranged in and occupythe arc of a circle. One edge i of each block is symmetricallyconcave-that is to say, is concave in crosssection upon the are of acircle whose center lies on substantially the medial line of the block.The other edge 5 is convex and beveled from the wider face 2 toward thenarrower face 3that is, is made convex in cross-section upon the arc ofa circle whose center lies substantially above the medial line of theblock-for example, within the face 2 thereof. The radius of the concaveedge 4: is shorter than the radius of the convex edge 5, so that theconcave edge is at an angle of twenty degrees, more or less, and theconvex edge is at an angle of forty degrees, more or less. In use, theseblocks are fitted together, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, and thesymmetrically-concave edges i rest upon the beveled convex edges 5, andthus constitute a tight joint between. the blocks even when they areturned so as to accommodate them to pipes and boilers of larger orsmaller diameters.

Moreover, these join ts vary very slightly when the blocks are arrangedon either comparatii ely large or small circles and do not requiregrouting in order to make them tight.

In the case of comparatively small boilers the upper portions of theconvex edges may project a little, as indicated by dotted lines in Fig.However, these upwardly-projecting edges may be filed off or otherwiseremoved in order to add a neat finish to the covering.

In cases Where the blocks are applied to a comparatively large boiler,pipe or other cylindrical vessel the comparatively small projectingportions of the blocks may lie at the inside, as at Fig. 2, andconsequently are not visible.

The blocks maybe simply fitted together for example, when they areapplied to the top of a boiler-or they may be secured, for example, topipes by means of encompassing bands and the like.

Obviously the above-described blocks are advantageous because theirsymmetrically concave and beveled convex edges when fitted together formnot only durable, tight and neat but also hinge or cup-and-ball-likejoints which permit of the advantageous application of the blocks tocylindrical boilers, pipes and the like of widely different diameters.Moreover, these joints permit of the convenient detachment of theblocks, so that they may be removed from one cylindrical vessel toanother, which may be of larger or smaller diameterfor example, in casesWhere plants are being moved. The fact that the blocks are soconstructed and fitted together at their edges that they may be turnedto accommodate them to boilers and the like of difierent diameterswithout impairing the tightness and durability of the joints betweenthem enables very accurate estimates to be made of the number of blocksthat are required to cover a boiler or other cylindrical vessel of anyparticular dimensions.

Having thus described the nature and objects of my invention, What Iclaim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

In combination non-conducting blocks each having one edge concave uponthe arc of a GEORGE DICKSON.

Witnesses A. B. SToUGHroN, K. M. GILLIGAN.

